No Hesitation

By Natalie Stevenson

As we hiked down the mountain to the Assi Ganga river valley my only motivation was to put my days without showering behind me.  I looked around the rock-filled river bed and the streams of water spewing here and there.  I reminisced about my whitewater rafting days in Colorado.

It was a beautiful sight but as I stumbled through the rocks, I was overcome with misery.  We passed so many little pools that would have been perfect for washing my hair.  But I stayed crawling and twisting my way to keep up with the group.

Eventually I could see what we had been moving toward – a huge pool with the perfect rocks to jump off of.  I saw Evan and Avery jumping from a cliff into the freezing water as I approached.  All the others were timid to step foot in the nearly frozen water.

I stripped right down to clothes that I did not mind getting wet and went “all out,” as Caleb said in his blog post.  I sat perched on a half submerged rock and began to lather up. Everyone stood about me in amazement – the quietest girl on the trip was seemingly unfazed by the 30 degree water.  I dunked my whole head in the frigid water and was overwhelmed with a feeling of peace.  I felt one with nature and for the first time on this trip felt no internal fear.

Bathing in the Assi Ganga river was once in a lifetime opportunity that I was not going to pass up, just as living side by side with the people of Agora is.

I realized that jumping in to anything with no hesitation, be it making chapatis, building a roof, or bathing in freezing water, makes for a more rich experience.  A “no hesitation” lifestyle is something we should all aim for.

7 thoughts on “No Hesitation

  1. Natalie – Oh fearless girl!!!! Bravo to you. You will never forget this experience. Amazing how something as simple as taking a bath and washing your hair can be so life-changing and far-reaching! I’m very happy for you – and feeling a bit chilly as I read your contribution to the fabulous blog!

    Like

    1. So glad you went”all out” Nats!! Can’t wait to see you and hear about all of your adventures! Love You! Mom

      Like

  2. Natalie,
    Here’s to the quietest girl on the trip! I especially love this detail because when I’m looking at all of the fabulous, colorful pictures, I find myself wondering … what does the day-to-day look like … how do they wash their hair? LOVE your post. I bet you’ll never hop in the shower without remembering your bath in the Assi Ganga!

    Like

Leave a Reply

Fill in your details below or click an icon to log in:

WordPress.com Logo

You are commenting using your WordPress.com account. Log Out /  Change )

Facebook photo

You are commenting using your Facebook account. Log Out /  Change )

Connecting to %s